Taking the Extra Moment to Smile

Today when I look at this smiling face I’m thinking of what we collectively need as we step into “uncertain times”.

This fairy takes me back to a class I took at the Flynn Theater a bunch of years ago.  It was called “Speaking in the Limelight”.  An opera singer taught the class and brought to it wonderful pizzazz and practical knowledge.  We, the students, brought our fears of speaking in public and got tips and opportunities to work them out. 

The best piece of advice I got - “Once you arrive at the podium.  Take a breath.  Look out at all the people you’ll be speaking to.” 

Today this fairy is suggesting we “Take that extra moment to smile.”  Smiling allows you to connect in with yourself.  This then allows you to connect in with others in a genuine way.  People LOVE that.

Start first with yourself.  Smile your brightest smile inward and connect in with you and how you’re feeling. Then get up, go out, and find ways to make practical and positive movements that take us forward. 

It might just be smiling at others. 

Whatever it is, it’ll be good.

Have fun!!!

Fondly,

Emily and the Bluebird Fairies

Announcements:

Our GoFundMe goal was reached in 20 days.  Thank you to all who read about our new project and to those that contributed.  I'll keep you posted about the "Fairy of the Day" app's progress.

esterday was our second "Demon and Fairy Drawing" Workshop.  Due to the feelings about the presidential election I'd changed the theme to "Inspiring Ourselves Forward".  The workshop was wonderful.  The next one will be Saturday December 10th.  I'll send you a notice.

astly, come find us the weekend after Thanksgiving at the Women's Festival of Crafts.  It has a new location.  Hope to see you there.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Fairy of Aunts of All Sizes and Flavors

I love this zany fairy.  I find myself telling people that more than speaking directly to the role of “aunt” she promotes and supports women of the world finding their own way of being female.  Hurray!!!

Since I haven’t children of my own being an aunt provides me one of my opportunities to support children coming their understanding of who they are and can be in the world.

One of the best ways for me to do this is to pull out my Bluebird Fairy Deck and spread the cards out before my teen aged nieces and have them pick three at random.  We then enter into a wonderful back and forth conversation about what's important in our lives, what's working and note what areas of positivity we can move more strongly into. 

The structure is easy and when you fill it in with the real stuff of our lives it gets interesting really fast. If we get into some heavy stuff the easiness of these fairies turns the energy light again. 

Please consider who you might have this kind of conversation with in your family.

Invite them and they will come.

I hope you are having a LOVELY autumn.

Fondly,

Emily and the Bluebird Fairies. 

Upcoming Opportunities:

The Fairy and Demon Drawing Workshop in the new Bluebird Fairies Studio was a success.  So, we're having another one next month on Saturday November 19th, 1-3.  

The theme is: "Bracing for the Holidays".

Please consider joining us and then sign up by writing me.  Limited space (register soon). $10. 

Guess what?!  Just in time for the election I'll be launching a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds to create a “Fairy of the Day” app people can put on their phones.  I want to get these 'earnest little drawings out into the world so they can do BIG THINGS'. 

Please support us in whatever way feels comfortable to you. (and know that, as my friend and mentor Mark Utter says- “The gentle rays of your heart are often just enough.”  

Home Sweet Studio Home

Dear Friends of Bluebird Fairies,

Hello and welcome to all those who've signed up during Burlington's Art Hop to receive monthly notices about fairy postings from me.  It's been a bit since I've written which is mainly due to the amazing transformation that took place in Bluebird Fairies’ new studio home.  

I was delighted to pick this fairy from my deck recently. 

I drew 'The Fairy of Home Sweet Home' when I lived in a house that felt like a really good friend.  She was off in the country, down a dirt road and next to a soft, easy (most of the time) creek. Whenever I would come home and walk in the door I would feel her greet me with 'Hello' and I'd feel a big 'ah' in me. 

This new home of Bluebird Fairies feels that way to me. It's in a great space up on the 3rd floor of an old bristle factory now full of artists.

What a blast it was to initiate the space with so many people passing through it during Art Hop. Stopping at the fairy booth to have a card reading, look at my old demons on the wall and have a conversation to hear what becoming of “These earnest little drawings to help us do big things”.

Now sitting down a few days after the event I feel what a comfortable refuge it is for meaningful creative expression. 

 I welcome all the good that will come here and how this space will connect with you.

Have fun!

 Emily and the Bluebird Fairies

Ta Da! Monthly Fairy and Demon Drawing Workshops are starting up in the Bluebird Fairies Studio, 4 Howard St., Burlington, VT

The first one is Saturday, October 15th, 1-3.

We’re starting off at the very nominal cost of $5 ($10 if you'd like a fairy card reading too.) All supplies included. Email me to RSVP.

Fairy of Good Morning, Good Night, and In Between Hugs

This fairy’s from a time when I was living in a house out in the country by myself.  Even though the thought of living there alone had been almost too overwhelmingly scary I had moved forward and into the house.  Steadily and carefully I grew the ability to overcome the nightly fears.  I knew that for my new unfolding life it was necessary.

This fairy honors all of the times people came to visit me and allowed me the opportunity to revel in the experience of having regular doses of people in my daily life.

Now, in our home by the high bank of the Winooski River I am thankful to have this every day.

So, whether you have this in your own home or you find it out in the world please rejoice in the wonder of us humans truly regarding one another again and again.  Right now.  Here.  In this Moment.

Fondly,

Emily and the Bluebird Fairies

The new Bluebird Fairies Studio Home on the 3rd Floor of the Howard and Pine building in Burlington is coming along.  We‘re gearing up for Art Hop and after that workshops that will unfold in the unfolding space.  We hope you’ll come visit or just keeping tuning in from afar.

Wearing Another's Shoes

I was happy I pulled this fairy from my Bluebird Fairy Deck on July 8th because I’ve been wanting to make an announcement about it.   

Yes, ‘The Fairy of Wearing Another’s Shoes’ and I have been at such big odds with each other I wanted to change her name! 

Luckily, the day after it was selected to be the star of this blog post I had an incredible, terrible day at work.  You know the kind.  Great growth happens during them but, oh, doesn’t it hurt all the while its happening?

It happens that my supervisor, the director of the Way2Work Program which houses the Bridging Program I coordinate here at Champlain Community Services has a Bluebird Fairy Deck that lives on her desk.   Every day she picks a “fairy of the day”. 

Towards the end of my “incredible, terrible day” she picked ‘The Fairy of Wearing Another’s Shoes”.  I said “Oh, Michelle, I want to change her.  I think people who come to the Fairy Booth are already super compassionate and they need to stop thinking about other people and start wearing their own shoes.”  Michelle looked me squarely in the eyes and said “You created this deck for a reason, don’t change it!” 

And, then it hit me.  Just that morning she had sat and listened to a problem that’s been brewing in my life for a while. It felt so incredibly good to feel her stretching her mind to understand what I was feeling and how my life experience had brought me to the predicament I was currently in.

I’ve been mulling all of this over for a few weeks.  A few days ago I was happy to find in Mark Nepo’s fabulous “The Book of Awakening”-

“It seems the ancient Medicine Men understood that listening to another’s story somehow gives us the strength of example to carry on, as well as showing us aspects of ourselves we can’t easily see.  For listening to the stories of others- not to their precautions or personal commandments- is a drop of water that breaks the fever of our isolation.  If we listen closely enough, we are soothed into remembering our common name.”

I think of this “sharing of shoes” as a dance we, hopefully, do all day.  Checking in with ourselves and then moving out and checking in with the others we come in contact with daily, infrequently or just for this one time in our life.  Back and forth.  Weaving our days and lives with this in and out, back and forth as we grow in the forest of life together. 

On we go!

Have fun!

Fondly,

Emily and the Bluebird Fairies

On Tuesday July 19th I had the exciting pleasure of offering two short presentations for Enrichment Night at the Women’s Correctional Facility in S. Burlington.  This is something Vermont Works for Women coordinates monthly

The night was a success!  I got to fully share the story of how the creation my demons and fairies developed Bluebird Fairies while allowing me to shift the energy of my life into a positive place.   The women then got a chance to do that too.

I’ll be offering a version of this presentation during the Saturday and Sundays of Art Hop 2016.  Stay Tuned!!!